Letter to Matthew - Today Is Your 4th Birthday

Dear Matthew:

Today is your 4th birthday. I don't even know where to start; it has been such a busy year for you. You have grown a lot. You are much taller. You are much smarter. You ask questions, you tell us stories, you sing and hum songs, you try to read, write, and colour, and most of all, you always have a lot of fun. You have friends. You are a little boy who will be going to school in September.

I have to warn you that I may keep this letter short, as one day I am sure you will discover somewhere in the house all the notes I wrote about you in 2012.

This year was the year of superheroes. Iron Man continued to be your favourite, but then came Superman.

Whenever you wear your Iron Man shoes to the library, you ask the librarians, "Do you know who I am?". Of course they don't, and you tell them you are Iron Man. Whenever you wear your Superman shirt to the library, you ask the librarians, "Do you know who I am?" Of course they do. "Oh, hello, Superman,", they would reply, and you would stand there proud with both hands on your hips, not to mention the precious smile. My heart melts every time I see so much happiness in you.

Speaking of the library, this year we introduced you to the library, and you got your own library card. You loved the ride in the elevator until one day we ended up in the basement of the library. We both got scared and laughed at each other when it was just someone down there waiting to go up. When we ended up in the basement again, I thought you pressed the wrong button. "No, I didn't; I only pressed 2," you replied, surprised. Now we take the stairs.

We read a lot of books, obviously the superhero ones, but then there was The Cat In The Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. Because of you, I discovered some great children's books I never had a chance to read. I lost count of how many times I read the Green Eggs and Ham book for you.

We took you to the cinema three times for Cars 2, Smurfs, and The Lorax. To keep you preoccupied longer, we would wait and get popcorn later. It worked with the first movie, a bit with the second movie, and then for the third movie, you said, "Everyone else has popcorn here but me". You love shopping for toys. I think I may have to stop taking you grocery shopping because we always end up buying toys. You are so stubborn, and it is so hard to walk out empty-handed.

When it comes to electronics, you seem to be an expert: you can take pictures and delete pictures from my camera (good thing I got all these recovery tools), you can operate the TV and DVD players, you insisted on the BluRay player (now we have one), you can play Nintendo 3DS, and now you are a big fan of Mario. Daddy finally got himself a PS3, and you claim it is yours. You operate the electric piano, but I was really happy to hear that you started to play some little tunes.

So finally, you don't mix all the paint colours together. You can draw nice things like the sun and people, and you can write M very well. Then, with our help, you can write your name. You can write Mom and Dad by yourself. You can colour so well, and most of all, your attention span is much longer when you attend Mommy's School.

One day we went for an orientation at your potential school. When we arrived at the parking lot of the school, you asked, "But where is my big box of food?"'. You didn't understand the orientation concept, so you really thought that you were going to school that day, and we forgot your lunch box. You never wanted to come back to this school again.

We are sending you to the Northern Lights PS, and I will give you a big box of food, with chicken soup included as per your request. I asked you one day what I would do without you when you went to school, and your reply was, "You will cook and wait for me".

Dear Matthew I can sit here all night and write about you, but maybe from now on I will leave you with more photo memories, and I think you will remember those moments as well. Just remember, no matter what, I love you more and more every day.

You are starting to develop your own character, and I am always amazed at how determined you are to accomplish something that you want to accomplish, even if it is to get a new toy. If that does not work after asking hundreds of times and sometimes telling me why you need this toy, then you would try by looking into my eyes and saying, "But I love you".

And you really do love us both, because sometimes when we are sitting together and having a good time and lots of fun, you grab our necks, hug us, and say, "Oh, we are family", and we are even better family now because of you, our dear Matthew.

Matthew, our little boy, we love you so much and we wish you all the best. Hopefully you will have another 'amazing' and 'fantastic' year filled with learning and new adventures.

~ Anna

[Previously published on My Only Photo Journey Blog]